The Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) has launched an EGP 100 billion mortgage finance initiative that serves low and middle-income citizens, the CBE announced on Tuesday.

The action comes in implementation of Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi’s decree to provide housing units for these categories with subsidised prices and long-term instalments repayment.

Under the initiative, low and middle-income individuals will have access to secure loans from banks and mortgage companies with a decreased interest rate of 3 percent and a 30-year repayment period in order to purchase only fully finished housing units, according to the CBE.

For low-income individuals, the CBE said that the beneficiary’s maximum net monthly income must not exceed EGP 4500 for the unmarried and EGP 6000 for the household.

For this group, the housing unit’s price must not exceed EGP 350,000 and the beneficiary has to pay 10 percent of this sum as a down payment, according to the CBE.

For middle-income individuals, the CBE clarified that the beneficiary’s maximum net monthly income must not surpass EGP 10,000 for the unmarried and EGP 14,000 for the household.

The beneficiaries of this group have to pay a down payment that ranges between 15 percent and 20 percent minimum for the unit with a price that ranges between EGP 1.1 million and EGP 1.4 million, according to the CBE.

The initiative stipulates those beneficiaries must hold the Egyptian nationality, allowing the self-employed, craftsmen, individuals with special needs, and pensioners to take advantage of it.

It also stipulates that purchased units should only be used for permanent habitation.

Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt in March 2020, the CBE has launched a package of initiatives covering various sectors that aim to protect the Egyptian economy against the severe impacts of the pandemic.

In March, El-Sisi directed the CBE to formulate and launch a new mortgage programme for low and middle-income citizens so that they can get housing units at a low interest rate.